In modern communications systems, there are a variety of service providers. Service providers include Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that provide access to the Internet, email and Web Hosting; Application Service Providers (ASPs) that offer portals to value-added hosted or managed applications; Network Service Providers (NSPs) that offer private services to companies, particularly international point-to-point connections and managed VPNs; and wireless operators that offer data services. Service providers such as these typically manage and provision these services using an operational support system (OSS). An OSS comprises a set of programs designed to support various telecommunication network management functions, including monitoring, controlling and analyzing problems in a computer network.
Moreover, as traditional voice telephone systems gradually converge with packet-oriented Internet traffic (including Voice over IP), broadband applications (such as teleconferencing), and DSL, more sophisticated systems are needed to support service provider activities such as ordering, billing, reporting, and tracking of usage and network components (including IP addresses).
An OSS is designed and built to conform to the specific requirements of the service provider. Typically, the behavior of the OSS is monitored and managed by a policy management system. Policy management systems are typically implemented as either embedded systems or peer systems.
An embedded policy management system is one in which both the OSS and the policy management system are bundled together, typically on a chip. In embedded systems, the code performing the operational functions is intermingled with the code performing the policy management functions. However, in this arrangement the policy management system is non-scalable and inflexible. For example, in a large distributed network controlled by an embedded policy management system, it is cumbersome, if not impossible, to capture changes in system evolution, system requirements or user behavior.
A peer policy management system is one in which the OSS and the policy management system operate as separate and independent systems, but only one policy management system, tailored to affect the behavior of the OSS, can be coupled to the OSS. Peer systems have many disadvantages. First, in large distributed networks where there may be many owners, each with specific policy management needs, multiple policy management systems are required to provide cooperation between the many management issues of the owners. Additionally, a single policy management system may not have the capacity to handle all the various problems occurring within a single OSS. Also, it is very difficult for a single policy management system to manage user behavior from one subsystem to the next. Finally, it is difficult to manage an OSS when the policy management system goes down or the interactions between the systems fail.
Both embedded and peer policy management systems may be classified as “policy-based” systems. Policy-based systems are those that re-use successful management decisions, forming a collection of policy rules that can control the behavior of the OSS. Policy-based systems constrain the OSS because the OSS is only able to use the exclusive rules of the policy-based management system. Therefore, any changes in policy management rules result in the need to either change the code (for embedded systems) or the configuration of an external policy management system (for peer systems). In either event, a new product must be added or built. This severely curtails the scalability of systems used by a service provider.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for a system and method of managing an OSS using one or more external policy management systems to effectively and economically enhance scalability. Unlike standard policy-based management systems that are either embedded into the OSS or can access only one external policy management system, there is a need for a policy-enabled management system that can access and implement multiple external policy-based systems. The policy-enabled system must provide access to the available external policy management systems, determine the best external policy management system to use, regulate the exchange of policies between the external policy management system and the OSS, and correlate differing polices and resolve conflicts.
The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.